BabySitting For Money
by choir-freak
Summary: COMPLETE!Lily has to babysit to get money for school. She ends up babysitting the Potter's three year old daughter. Even with Jackie's big brother there, she is still a pain in the butt. Like Brother, Like Sister.
1. Chapter 1

Babysitting For Money

Lily Evans sat at the desk in her bedroom doing her homework for Hogwarts. She had been home for three weeks and she had just started her homework. Lily dipped her quill into the ink and went to start writing again when she realized she had barely gotten any ink on the tip of the quill at all. Lily sighed and pulled out a small red leather bag from inside her desk. She kept her wizarding money in that bag. She opened it and was not pleased by what she saw inside. She only had a few galleons and a knut or two left. Lily rolled up her homework and put it away. She would have to ask her parents for some money for school.

As Lily went downstairs for lunch, the door knocked. Lily answered it. It was her neighbor Lindsey Rouillee. She was 14 and now had black hair.

"Hello Lindsey," Lily said smiling at the 14 year old girl. "When did you dye your hair?" she asked, letting the girl inside.

"Just a few hours ago actually," Lindsey said. Lindsey had been coming over every few days to say hi or just hang out with Lily. Lily didn't mind at all. It was hard to keep from doing magic now that she could though. She was always afraid she was going to let something slip.

"I was just going to get lunch. Do you want anything?" Lily asked leading Lindsey into the kitchen.

"I already ate. Thanks," Lindsey said. Lily was eating her lunch and talking to Lindsey when her parents walked into the kitchen.

"Mom, Dad," Lily said, "I need money for school. I don't have much left." Lily's parents exchanged glances.

"Lindsey, honey, your parents want you," Mrs. Evans said.

"Okay," Lindsey said. She glanced at Lily, said bye and left.

"Lily," Mr. Evans said after the door closed behind Lindsey, "We're in debt. We can't give you money for school." Lily gaped at her parents.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked. "I could have gotten a job and helped." Her dad shook his head.

"We don't want you to do that. But you will have to get a job to get money for school." Mr. Evans said. Lily nodded.

"I can do that, but is Petunia helping at all?" She asked. Her parents shook their heads.

"We don't want either of you helping with our debt. When you two make money it is your money to spend," her mom explained. They sat in silence for a while before Lily said, "I'd better go looking for a job". Her parents nodded and handed her a paper to look through. Lily took it to her room.

Lily drove her parents' car to a nearby restaurant. Lily had highlighted the jobs that wouldn't be too boring or too easy. A waitress seemed like a good option. She parked in the parking lot and walked in.

"Hi. I'm here to fill out an application," Lily said to a waiter walking past. He turned to look at her.

"I'm sorry. We're not hiring," he said. Lily looked at the paper in her hands.

"It says right here that you are," she said pointing it out. The man sighed.

"Our manager hasn't called the paper and told them to take us off the list. We hired someone yesterday," he explained.

"Oh," Lily said. "Okay. Well, bye then," and she left.

All the stores were like that. Either they had just hired someone, Lily didn't have enough experience or the jobs were just plain boring.

Lily plopped down on her bed and sighed. She had forgotten to close her door so when Petunia walked by, she heard Lily. "Did you finally realize you're a freak?" Petunia asked, not even coming in the room. Lily looked up at her sister.

"Go away Pat," Lily said, to disappointed to come up with a better comeback.

"I heard you were looking for a job. No one is going to hire someone who's abnormal," Lily's dear sister told her. Lily rolled her eyes. "You're probably going to have to babysit or walk dogs to get money. Little twelve year old things," then Petunia walked to her room, laughing at her sister.

Lily sat up. Babysit. That wasn't a bad idea.

That night at dinner, Lily suggested the idea to her parents.

"Mom, Dad," Lily started, "I couldn't find a job today and I'm really good with kids so I was wondering if I could put up fliers and babysit for money." Her dad's expression was unreadable. Her mom looked like she didn't think it was a bad idea. Mrs. Evans looked up at her husband to see what he thought. Petunia spoke first.

"You do realize that I was kidding?" she said, laughter in her voice. Lily ignored her.

"I don't like the idea of kids running around our home," Mr. Evans said.

"Well I don't have to babysit them here. I can offer to go to their house," Lily suggested, "Mom, what do you think?"

"I think it sounds like a wonderful idea."

Lily smiled and looked at her dad hopefully. He sighed. "I suppose. But I don't like the idea of giving out information so anyone can read it," her dad mentioned.

"Well, I can put a spell on it so no one but someone who actually is looking for a babysitter can see it," Lily said. She looked at her dad expectantly. He smiled.

"Alright. Go ahead."

Lily beamed. "Thank you so much," she said and ran up to her room to make posters.


	2. The Potters

The Potters

Lily had hung up posters around her town. She had performed a simple charm so no one but people seeking a babysitter would actually see them. And then a charm so only witches and wizards could see the little note at the bottom saying that she accepted owls too. Lily was quit pleased with herself. Well, there was one slight problem.

No one had called yet. She hadn't gotten a phone call or an owl asking for her to baby-sit. Maybe she was being impatient. Yeah. That was probably it. It had only been three days.

Just then, Petunia came into the living room and stretched a claw-like hand towards the phone. Lily grabbed the phone before her sister could.

"What are you doing?" Lily asked. Petunia raised her eyebrows at her sister.

"I was going to call my boyfriend," she said.

"Hippo's aren't allowed to use phones Petunia," Lily said as if she were trying to explain this to a two year old. She had met her 'boyfriend' and Lily couldn't believe his size.

"Shut up," Petunia snapped and reached for the phone in Lily's hand, "Give me the damn phone!"

"No!" Lily yelled, "What if someone calls who needs me to baby-sit and I miss their call because you're talking to your boyfriend?"

"Not my problem," Petunia replied as she reached for the phone again. Lily jumped over the back of the couch to get away from her sister.

"Now Pat, you are my favorite big sister but I can't let you use the phone," she said in mock sweetness. Petunia rolled her eyes.

"I'm your only big sister and STOP calling me 'Pat'". Lily laughed. Then an owl swooped into the room. Petunia shrieked and ran from the room. Lily put the phone back on the side table and untied the letter form the owl's leg. She didn't recognize the owl so she figured it was probably someone who needed a babysitter. Either that or her best friend Erin got a new owl. Inside the letter read:

_Dear Lily Evans,_

_My husband and I have seen your poster for babysitting. We need a babysitter this Saturday night. We would like to hire you to baby-sit our three year old daughter, Jackie. We are willing to pay five galleons an hour. Please send your reply with the owl that came to you._

_From, _

_Howard and Jennifer Potter_

**Potter?** Lily thought. It couldn't be James Potter's family. There were a lot of people named 'Potter'. What were the chances that the Potter family who needs a babysitter was the family of the boy she hated? Lily decided that it couldn't be the same Potter and pushed the thought out of her mind.

At the bottom was the address. Lily quickly wrote back saying that she would baby-sit and would be there at 6:00 if that was a good time for them. She went up to her room, debating on telling her sister that she could use the phone now but decided against it.

That Saturday, Lily showed up at the given address. She knocked and waited. A woman with black hair and brown eyes answered the door.

Before Lily had a chance to say anything, the woman said, "You must be Lily." Lily nodded and held out her hand to shake the woman's who identified herself as Jennifer Potter. She gestured Lily inside.

Lily walked in. The house wasn't huge but it was bigger than Lily's two story house. Their house was three stories. When Lily walked in, she was standing in the foyer. Mrs. Potter told her she could hang her coat up on the coat rack and follow her. Lily did as she was told. She followed Mrs. Potter into a room that reminded Lily greatly of the Gryffindor common room. Then they went through another door into a kitchen. The kitchen was big. It was more of a dining room/kitchen. There was a little girl sitting at the table eating and a man standing by the counter. He looked up when they walked in.

"Ah. You must be Miss Evans," he said, shaking Lily's hand.

"Hello," Lily said.

"This is Jackie," Mrs. Potter said kindly, walking up to the little girl. "She goes to bed at 8:30. Make sure you read to her before she goes to bed. There aren't very many rules. Just make sure she doesn't get into trouble and she's not allowed outside after dark." Lily nodded.

"We'll be back around 10 or 11," Mr. Potter told Lily. He checked his watch and said to Mrs. Potter, "We had better be leaving Jen."

"Alright," she said and then turned to tell Lily one more thing. "Our son will be leaving soon. He's upstairs right now. He will show you around before he leaves. We really do have to go."

"Ok," Lily said. "Bed at 8:30, no going out after dark, read to her before she goes to bed and make sure she doesn't get into any trouble," Lily repeated. She found that parents tend to be less nervous if they know you're listening. Mr. Potter smiled and nodded.

"Are you leaving?" Jackie asked. Lily thought she was so cute.

"Just for a little while honey. When your wake up in the morning, we'll be here. Lily's going to watch you tonight," Mrs. Potter explained. Jackie looked a little sad and then said, "Okay. I'm going to go see Jamie."

Lily looked at the little girl quickly. Jamie. James. Uh-oh. Lily tried to convince herself that it wasn't the same person. James was a very common name as well as Potter. There must have been tons of wizards called James Potter. She didn't even know if James was his name. It could just be Jamie. Lily still felt nervous.

"Great idea Jackie," Mrs. Potter said, "You can introduce Lily to your big brother." She looked at Lily and smiled. Lily smiled back.

"Well, we're off," Mr. Potter said "Bye Jackie." Mr. and Mrs. Potter kissed Jackie on the head and apperated.

"I'd love to meet your brother," Lily said sweetly to Jackie. Jackie took Lily's hand and led her upstairs. They stopped in front of a door with a flashing sign that said KEEP OUT. Lily rolled her eyes. Typical teenager. Jackie knocked and guess who answered. James Potter.

"Evans?" he said and smiled. Lily felt like hitting her head on the door frame and possibly knocking herself out but figured she shouldn't do that in front of a three year old.

"No silly," Jackie said. "This is Lily." Then she giggled.

"Oh. I'm sorry Jackie," James said, picking up his sister. It was cute when he held little kids. **No. This is Potter. He's never cute.** Lily thought to herself. "You're babysitting my little sister?" he asked.

"Yes and for me to do that, you have to be gone. Aren't you going somewhere?" Lily asked, trying not to sound too rude.

"Well I was but now I'm having second thoughts," James said. Lily sighed.

"Don't let me keep you from your friends Potter," Lily mumbled through clenched teeth. James laughed.

"Ever heard the saying like brother like sister?"

Lily shook her head. "No."

James smiled. "I'm gonna stay. Just pretend I'm not here." Lily didn't like the grin he had on his face.


	3. Like Brother Like Sister

Like Brother Like Sister

At 8:30, Lily took Jackie to her room. She read Jackie a book and then tucked her in. Jackie was being a really sweet girl. Lily wondered if she was actually James' sister.

Earlier that evening, Sirius, Peter, and Remus had shown up. James told them that he was going to stay. Sirius gave him a playful hard time before they left.

Lily sat in the room that looked like the Gryffindor common room reading a book about some witch who decided to kill her family because her parents punished her for using magic in front of muggles. Lily thought that the girl overreacted a little but that was just her opinion. Then she heard a thump above her and ran up the stairs to Jackie's room.

"Are you okay Jackie?" Lily asked when she got to the room. Jackie was tangled up in her blanket on the floor.

"I fell out of bed," she said, sticking out her lower lip. Lily knelt down beside her to help and had to smile at the cute face Jackie was making. After Lily got Jackie back into bed, she started walking out of the room when she tripped just as she was taking a step through the doorway. She fell face first onto the carpet. Jackie was laughing behind her. When Lily turned to look at what she tripped on, she didn't see anything. She got up and turned to face Jackie.

"Good night," Lily said, and then walked away, heading for the third floor. Lily knocked on James' bedroom door. His eyes widened when he saw her.

"You are so stupid Potter," Lily said.

"What?" he asked.

"You used that charm on your sister's door to make the first person to walk through the door trip."

"I didn't do anything," James insisted, "And if I was going to do something like that, I would make it so anyone who walked through the door tripped." Lily rolled her eyes.

"Who else could have done it?" she asked.

"Jackie," James answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Lily snorted, disbelievingly. "Have you seen a mirror?" James asked.

"_What?_" Lily snapped. James pointed down the hall to a bathroom. Lily quieckly walked in the direction of where he pointed. James followed behind her. When Lily looked in the mirror that was just inside the bathroom door, James put a hand over her mouth to muffle her scream. Her hair had turned a bright shade of blue.

Lily stalked into the hall when she was done screaming and pulled out her wand. She muttered the spell to turn her hair back to red but it didn't work. She rounded on James.

"What did you do?" she demanded through clenched teeth.

"I didn't do anything," James said again.

"Just turn my hair back to its' normal color, Potter!"

"I don't have my wand,"

Lily stared at him for a second then said, "You lost it?"

James looked at her like she was crazy. "No. My parents took it away. They said that just because I'm of age doesn't mean I act like it. I have to prove that I can be responsible before they will let me do magic outside of school."

"Wait, if you don't have your wand, then who changed my hair color?" Lily asked.

"I told you. Jackie."

"Stop giving me bull crap stories. That sweet little girl wouldn't do something like that."

"I bet your sister acts like the perfect sister around other people but behind closed doors, she's a brat." Lily thought about it. That was true. Petunia acted like she was proud of Lily about the witch thing around her parents but once they were alone, Lily was a 'freak' or 'weirdo'. Was there any sister who didn't act like a brat around other people?

Lily walked quickly down the stairs to Jackie's room. James followed.

When Lily opened Jackie's door, there was no doubt in her mind that Jackie was a sister like that. Lily opened the door and there was a loud pop and flour covered Lily completely but didn't get anywhere else. Lily blew some flour out of her mouth and whipped her eyes. When she turned to face James, he was covering his mouth with his hand and his shoulders were shaking in laughter. She was about to tell him off when she heard a giggle to her right. Lily turned and Jackie was standing there, laughing.

"Jackie," Lily said but Jackie ran off towards the stairs going down to the first floor.

Half an hour later, Lily was looking for Jackie everywhere. When Lily had taken a step to go downstairs after Jackie, her foot got stuck in some goo. She couldn't get it out until James helped her.

Most of the flour had come off. There was still a lot in her hair and spots of it on her clothes. It had come off around the house. Lily was going to have some cleaning to do once she caught Jackie.

Lily was just looking under and in the grand piano when the doorbell rang. Lily ran to answer it. When she opened the door, her best friend Erin was standing there. Erin had dirty blond hair and a great personality. She always made Lily laugh.

"Surprise!" she said. Then she looked at Lily and asked, "What happened?"

"I'm babysitting the Potters' little girl." Lily said in a mock sweet voice.

"As in James Potters' family?" Erin asked.

"Yup," Lily answered, not so sweetly anymore. "And Jackie is a little brat. It's like brother like sister.

"Wow," Erin said. She looked around at all the flour everywhere and the mess Lily had made looking for Jackie. "Well have fun," she said and turned to leave.

"Oh, no you don't," Lily said, pulling her back and closing the door. "You have to help me."

"I hate kids," Erin whispered to Lily as if afraid that she would offend someone in the room.

"Well I don't think Lily is to fond _this_ kid." James walked up to them. "She wasn't on the third floor Lily." He added.

"What are you doing here?" Erin asked. Lily quickly explained and then convinced Erin to help her look for Jackie.

"Fine. But remember I'm only doing this because I'm your best friend." Erin said sulkily.

"Good enough reason for me," Lily said. Then she turned to James. "We're going to continue to look around down here for Jackie. You look on the second floor."

"Why can't Erin look on the second floor so I can look down here with you?" James asked like a little boy who was being denied a treat.

"Don't start," Lily warned.

"Fine," James said and walked up to the second floor. Lily lead Erin to the 'Gryffindor common room' room.

"Just start looking around. She isn't very big so she can fit almost anywhere." Lily said and started looking under couches. Erin didn't think that _anyone_ could fit under one of those couches but didn't say anything. She started looked by the fire place. There wasn't a fire in there so she could have climbed up it.

"What are you doing?" Lily asked. Erin pulled her head out of the fireplace.

"I'm looking for Jackie."

"Up the fireplace?" Lily questioned.

"You're looking under the couches," Erin said.

"She's three. She can't climb up a fire place," Lily said as she started looking under tables and behind chairs. Erin rolled her eyes and started looking again. Lily stood up after looking behind every chair and under every table. "I'm going to search the kitchen. You look in the closets and stuff," Lily said as she walked towards the door leading to the kitchen.

Lily opened the door and walked in. She gasped. The kitchen was a mess. Before it was perfectly white with black and white checkered floor tiles and now there were purple handprints everywhere. Dish soap was all over the floor and dishes were pulled out of the cupboards.

It could all be easily fixed though. All Lily had to do was use her wand. She reached into the pocket.

Her wand was gone.

Lily was going to hypervenalate. Did wizards have paper bags? She would need one. There was a gasp to her left. Lily quickly turned and saw Jackie.

She was staring wide eyed at Lily. Her hands were pressed to her cheeks. She hadn't seen Lily at first. Lily took a step towards Jackie as Jackie turned and ran through a door to the next room. Lily hadn't seen that door when she was in the kitchen earlier. Lily quickly took a step forward to follow and slipped on dish soap.

"OW!" she exclaimed as she hit her head on a pot. She got up, using the wall for a support and carefully chased after Jackie. When she got to the door that Jackie went through, the door turned into a wall. Lily pushed on the wall.

Nothing happened.

Lily hit the wall with her fists and yelled "OW!" again.

_Think Lily think_ she thought. She would have to go ask James about the door. Lily sighed and started towards across the kitchen again. She caught herself on the counter as she slipped again and accidentily pushed papers onto the floor.

"Damn it," she muttered before slowly and not very gracefully making her way out of the kitchen.


	4. The Brat Took My Wand

"The brat took my wand!"

"Lily did you find her?" Erin asked as Lily ran up the stairs to find James.

"Does it look like I found her?" Lily asked frustrated. Erin followed her up the stairs.

"No. Where are you going? Potter's checking up here." They reached the second floor and Lily called, "POTTER!"

James ran out of the library. "What happened?" he asked. "Did you find her?"

"Does it look like we found her?" Erin asked as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Lily looked at her, shook her head as if to clear it and turned back to James.

"Jackie disappeared behind a door or something," Lily said.

"What?" James asked. He looked a little confused.

Lily sighed. "There was a door in the kitchen. Jackie went through it and when I tried to follow, the door turned into a wall."

"She couldn't have gone through that door," James said.

"Why?" Erin asked, "What is it?"

"It's a deur," James said. Lily was confused but Erin looked like she knew what he was talking about.

"A, _what?_" Lily asked.

"A deur," Erin explained, "It's a special door. It opens up to secret passages or secret rooms. Sometimes they can even open into whole other worlds. Those are very rare though. I think the only one ever recorded in history was in America."

"Ours opens into passages that lead anywhere in the house. There are even some places where Jackie would be able to see us through the wall." James said.

"How do we get in?" Lily asked.

"That's what's hard to understand. You need a wand to be able to open it," James said. They were silent for a few seconds as they thought about it.

"The brat took my wand!" Lily exclaimed suddenly.

"What?" Erin asked.

"When I was in the kitchen, I reached in my pocket to pull out my wand so I could clean up the mess that brat made. My wand wasn't in my pocket."

"You lost your wand?" James echoed Lily from before. Lily glared at him.

"How do you open it?" Lily asked James, "Erin can get into it for us and-_why are you shaking your head?_"

"My parents put a spell on it so only someone in the family can open it. I'd have to use Erin's wand but I'm not sure it would work. It's very rare that a wand will work for a witch or wizard outside the family."

"I know that Potter, but-as much as I hate to admit it- you are a very powerful wizard and could probably make it work."

"She's right," Erin said. She reached into her pocket and held out her wand to James. James looked at it and then took it.

"Fine, but if the spell backfires and everyone in the house ends up with boils on their faces, then I don't want to hear it," James said, walking up to a section of the wall. James pointed the wand at the wall. Lily noticed that there were two vases about four feet apart. It looked like there should have been a door or window in the middle.

"_Expositus_," James said.

At first nothing happened. Then, very faintly, a door started to appear. At first Lily thought she was seeing things. Then the door started becoming clearer. James opened it.

Lily was expecting to see a narrow passageway with cobwebs. Like the passages castles have in muggle movies. That's not what she saw.

Behind the door, was a brick wall.

"This isn't right," James said.

"_Really?_" Erin said, her words dripping with sarcasm, "I _never_ would have guessed." James turned and glared at her.

"Just try again," Lily told James, ignoring Erin. James faced the wall and said the charm again.

This time it worked. James opened the door and there was a passage that was just wide enough for two people to fit through if they were standing side by side. The hall was made completely out of stone but didn't have cobwebs or anything. There were lit torches lining the walls.

Lily started down the hall. Erin followed Lily and James followed Erin.

They were walking around, following many different passages, going back, trying other passages, and getting lost. They couldn't find Jackie and Lily was starting to get worried. Then they heard laughter.

"Where's that coming from?" Lily asked. She turned to try and follow Jackie but the laughter was echoing off the walls, making it impossible to tell which direction it was coming from.

"That way," Lily, Erin and James all said at once, pointing in different directions. "Let's split up," Lily said and started going where she thought she heard Jackie.

Lily went down several hallways. She passed a door that was slightly open. She decided to check it out since all the other doors were closed. She walked in, carrying a torch with her.

The room was full of mirrors. She saw herself with blue hair everywhere and it just made her want to find Jackie faster. Then she saw her. Jackie ran out from behind one wall and back behind another. Lily went to follow but ran into a mirror.

"Ouch!" Lily said and turned to try and chase after the little three-year old.

15 minutes and five times of bumping into mirrors later, Lily caught Jackie.

"Gotcha!" She said, grabbing onto the little terror. Jackie gasped and looked up at Lily. Then she did something Lily was _not_ expecting.

She _laughed_.

"What's so funny?" Lily asked. Jackie didn't say anything. Lily rolled her eyes, figuring it was her hair that was making Jackie act like she was insane.

"Come on," Lily said. She picked Jackie up and carried her out of the room-being very careful to not run into anything-and yelled, "I FOUND HER!"

"That's great!" that was Erin. Lily looked around trying to figure out where she was.

"Where are you?" James yelled. Once again, it echoed.

"Meet me out the door!" Lily said and started towards what she hoped was the right direction out of there.

Lily finally found the door out and found James and Erin already waiting for her. Lily put Jackie down, still holding on to her arm.

"Jackie what did you do?" James asked. He had pimples all over his face. Lily bit her lip to keep from laughing.

"I didn't do anything," Jackie said with a laugh that made it obvious it was a lie.

"Don't give me that crap." Erin snapped. Lily gasped as she looked at her friend. Then started she started laughing. Erin's clothes had been tuned hot pink. Erin _hated _pink.

"At least my hair isn't blue," Erin said. That shut Lily up.

"Jackie, why don't you just give Lily back her wand?" James asked in a forced calm voice. Jackie shook her head, her pig-tails bouncing. James groaned and Erin and Lily sighed.

"How did you pull pranks on people without them seeing?" Erin asked.

"Well," started Jackie, "I made it so Lily would fall through my doorway and when she did, her hair would change color."

"Isn't that complicated magic for you?" Lily asked.

"Jamie taught me how to do it."

Lily turned to glare at James. "You taught your little sister how to pull pranks? She could have been a sweet little girl."

"It was a long time ago. I didn't think she would actually remember," James defended himself. Jackie giggled.

"And then," Jackie continued as if there were no interruption, "When you touched me, Lily, they changed." She pointed to James and Erin.

"Okay," Erin said, "Jackie, will you please give Lily back her wand so she can fix this and you don't get in trouble?"

Jackie thought about it, and then pulled out not one wand but _two._

"That's my wand," James said snatching his wand out of Jackie's hand.

"That's how you were able to open the deur," Erin said. A wand that belonged to someone in the family usually meant that you could use it too.

"Jackie, how do change my hair color back and those two back to normal too?" Lily asked nicely.

"I don't know," Jackie said. She twirled a piece of her hair around one finger thinking. Then they heard a crack downstairs and Lily knew that Mr. and Mrs. Potter were home.

Lily looked at James and Erin, who were surprisingly back to normal. She guessed that she was too. When she looked back at Jackie, she was running down the hall to her bedroom. Lily couldn't help but laugh. Three year olds were so cute at times.

Lily went downstairs to see the Potters.

"How was everything Lily?" Mr. Potter asked. "Did Jackie behave?"

Lily was about to tell them everything but Jackie's cute little face popped into her head and she couldn't.

"Everything was fine," Lily said.

"Good," Mr. Potter said.

"Whose this?" Mrs. Potter asked sweetly as Erin came down the stairs.

"Oh, this is my friend Erin. She surprised me by showing up. I hope you don't mind," Lily explained.

"It's fine dear," Mrs. Potter told her. Lily smiled.

"Well I'd better be off," Lily said. Mr. Potter started heading towards the kitchen. Lily didn't have time to clean it. He opened the door and Lily prepared herself for and explosion. It didn't come.

"Let me pay you," Mrs. Potter said. She pulled out 20 galleons from her purse and handed them to Lily. Lily gaped at the money.

"Thank you," Lily said, "But this is too much."

"Nonesense. We usually have babysitters who can't handle Jackie. We would love it if you could come again next week. Erin, you can come also if you want."

Lily smiled. "Alright."

After thanking them, Lily and Erin left.

"What were you thinking?" Erin asked Lily once they had apperated to Lily's house.

"I have no idea," Lily admitted as she flopped down onto her bed.

**A/n** There's not much of Lily and James in this one. There will be in the next one though. Sorry it took so long to update. Thanks to everyone who reviewed.


	5. Babysitting Again

Babysitting Again

A week later, Lily sat in the kitchen eating dinner. Petunia was out with her boyfriend and her parents went out to eat to have some time together. Lily had heated up a microwave dinner and was eating it at the counter as she looked through the _Daily Prophet_.

She was just reading an article about a muggle three year old who was a genius and supposedly found out about the wizarding world, when an owl flew in through the kitchen window. Lily untied the letter and read:

Dear Lily,

Jackie loved you. She has never liked a babysitter before. This Wednesday we are going to a meeting for work. Would you like to baby-sit Jackie again for us? She will be having a four year old friend over to spend the night that night so you would be paid double.

From, Mrs. Potter

Lily groaned. She didn't want to baby-sit but she didn't want to be rude and tell them no. The doorbell rang and Lily quickly wrote a response saying that she would be there at 7. Then she went to answer the door.

"Hi Lindsey," Lily said, letting her friend inside.

"Hey. Are you busy?"

"No. Why?"

"I'm just bored and wanted someone to hang out with," Jackie explained. Lily understood and led Lindsey into the kitchen. Lindsey picked up the letter and read through it. "You're babysitting?"

"Yeah," Lily said, "Do you want some tea?"

"Sure," Lindsey said and then changed the topic back to babysitting. "I like to baby-sit. Does this little girl behave?"

"She's a brat," Lily said. She turned the stove on to HI so the water would boil.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Lindsey sounded sympathetic. "I hate it when I have to baby-sit kids who don't behave."

"Me too," Lily replied, "This little kid is the most misbehaved little girl ever."

"You didn't meet the girl I had to baby-sit last summer," Lindsey said, "She loved doing magic tricks. The only thing was that she didn't really know how to do it. One of her favorite tricks was to put all the ingredients for a cake in a hat and then put the hat on your head. How the trick was supposed to go, was that when the hat was tipped onto your head, a cake appeared. It never happened." Lily laughed. "It really wasn't funny when you were sitting in the living room, thinking that the little girl was up in bed and then she came downstairs and dumped eggs and milk onto your head."

"What'd you do?" Lily asked. The tea kettle whistled. Lily turned off the stove and pulled out two mugs.

"Well," Lindsey continued, "I taught her some simple card tricks that I knew. She loved them and stopped doing the cake thing."

"That's an interesting idea," Lily said, thinking about what she could do with Jackie.

"Bye," Lily said as Mr. and Mrs. Potter left. They waved and Lily turned back to Jackie and her friend, Connor. He was a blonde little boy with blue eyes. So far, he was being a sweet little kid but so was Jackie.

"Hey, Evans," Lily turned to see James walking down the stairs.

"What are you doing here?" Lily asked in a snotty way, "Why don't you go out with your friends? I have enough to worry about without you driving me crazy."

"I stayed to help you," James said, "I noticed that it wasn't that easy for you last time when there was just Jackie so I thought I'd stay but if you don't want help I can go." James started walking towards the door.

She wasn't going to ask him to stay. He would be smug about it and hold it over her head forever. She really did need help though. James was able to help a lot last time. But she couldn't ask him to stay.

"Wait," Lily said.

Damn.

"Yes?" James said turning around.

"I will need help," Lily admitted quietly. Then she quickly added, "But don't be arrogant, egotistical, bigheaded, or conceited about it."

"You know that those all mean the same thing, right?" James asked. Lily didn't answer him. "Besides," he continued, "I wasn't going to. I was just going to suggest that we go find Jackie and Connor."

Lily turned around and, sure enough, the two little people weren't standing where Lily had left them.

"I suck at babysitting," Lily said mostly to herself. She started towards the stairs when she heard something in the kitchen. She quickly ran there, dreading what she would see when she pushed open the swinging door. Inside, Jackie and Connor were eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

"You're not getting into trouble?" Lily asked.

"We're finishing our dinner," Connor said.

"Oh." Lily turned around and ran right into James, who was standing behind her. "I found them," she said.

"Really?" he replied sarcastically. "I didn't see them sitting right over there." Then he smiled at her. Lily felt a strange feeling in her stomach that she could place. _What is that?_ She thought. She decided to think about it later.

"I haven't had dinner yet," James said, "I'm gonna make some food. Do you want anything?"

"Uh…" Lily wasn't really sure if she should accept anything from him. He might sneak a love potion in it or something. But then again, Lily was really hungry. She didn't have time for dinner because she had gone to a friend's house and then had to go straight to the Potter's.

"I'm making Roman Noodles." Lily loved Roman Noodles. She wondered if he knew that.

"Okay," Lily said. She sat down at one of the stools by the counter and glanced over at Connor and Jackie every so often. She thought it was so cute how they laughed; Like little kids. It was so cute. "Do cook often?" Lily asked, trying to strike up a conversation. James had put a pot of water on the stove and was waiting for it to start boiling.

"Does cereal count?" he asked. "I can make Roman only because you just add water and stir basically. Other than that no. I can't even make spaghetti."

"Spaghetti and Roman is basically the same thing though," Lily pointed out.

"Not really."

"You just add water and stir."

"You have to make sauce with spaghetti and the noodles are different." Lily found that amusing and laughed a little. What difference did it make if the noodles weren't the same? Guys could be so weird.

Lily and James talked some more while the food was cooking. James wasn't that bad really. Lily had the thought and then instantly pushed it out of her head. It was probably just an act, although, for some reason, Lily couldn't _quite_ convince herself of that. She watched as James stirred the food and then looked over to watch the two little kids.

**A/n **Sorry for the long wait. I went to Illinois and didn't have enough internet time to be able to post anything. PLEASE FORGIVE ME! Thanks to all who reviewed and haven't given up on this story. I really am truly sorry.


	6. New Tricks

New Tricks

Half an hour later, as you can probably guess, Lily was searching for Jackie and Connor. She was on the second floor and James was looking on the first. Lily walked into a room that she hadn't seen the last time she was there. It was a weight room. There were a lot of familiar equipment, like dumbbells and steps. But then there were also other things that Lily had never seen before in her life. She figured they were special magical equipment type things. She wanted to try them out but knew she had to find the kids first.

After taking a few steps into the room, she heard something to her left. She quickly turned to see what it was. Lily thought she saw a glimpse of blonde hair duck behind some weird type of machine. She took a few hurried steps closer to them and hit her toe on something extremely hard. She crashed to the floor and hit her head on a metal bar.

"Owe!" she exclaimed loudly. Gasps came from where she suspected Jackie and Connor were hiding. "Get out here," Lily said.

"What happened?" Lily turned to see James taking a few quick steps towards her. He knelt next to her. Lily was rubbing the spot on her head where she hit it and James pushed her hair back gently so he could see. "It's red," he told her, "You better get some ice on it."

Lily reached over to feel what she had tripped on. She felt something silky covering something hard. She pulled and found herself holding an invisibility cloak. She gaped at it. She looked at James who was looking around the room.

"Jackie," he said, "Connor, you can come out now." Surprisingly, they did. Well, Connor did. Jackie reluctantly did after Connor had given away where they were hiding. "I told you not to touch my cloak again."

"This is yours?" Lily asked, shocked, "So this is how you sneak around so much without getting caught. Well, now I know your secret so…" Lily didn't really know what to say. Just because she knew about it didn't mean she was suddenly be able to see him when he was wearing it.

"We can't talk about this right now," he told Lily, gesturing at Connor and Jackie. Lily knew he was right. But that didn't mean she wouldn't give him a hard time about it later.

She checked her watch. It was too early to send them to bed. "Why don't you two go watch a movie?" Lily suggested.

"Huh?" Jackie asked, confused. Lily looked from Jackie, to Connor, to James. They were all looking at her like she had just spoken in Troll.

"You don't know what movies are. I forgot." Lily said, feeling incredibly stupid. _Wait, _she thought _I shouldn't feel stupid. It's just Potter and two little kids. Who cares?_

"Go change into your pajama's," James told them, suddenly taking control. "Then, come downstairs to the kitchen. If you're not down there in ten minutes, then you won't get your dessert." Jackie and Connor ran off to change. "Come on," he said to Lily, "We'll get you some ice for your head."

Five minutes later, Lily sat on the counter in the kitchen. James was getting her an ice pack. She had insisted on getting it herself but he was stubborn.

"Here," he said, walking up to her and putting an ice pack on the red spot. Lily winced when it touched her skin. She was more affected by the cold than anything else. It was helping the pain. James was standing right in front her and when she took the ice pack from him, he didn't move and, for some reason, she didn't want to tell him to.

"You took charge pretty well," Lily said quietly, breaking the silence. When he looked at her with a questioning look, she explained, "With Jackie and Connor, upstairs."

"Was that a compliment?" he asked. Lily rolled her eyes but couldn't help but smile when he did.

"Don't get use to it," she told him. He stared at her and Lily didn't want to be the one who broke eye contact. She saw him glance at her lips before looking back at her eyes. Her breath caught as he started leaning towards her.

Then the doorbell rang. They both jumped. James ran a hand through his hair. Lily wasn't sure if she was relieved or disappointed at the interruption. "I'll get it," she said. She put the ice pack on the counter and jumped down. She bumped into him because he was standing so close and avoided looking up at him.

Lily ran to the door. She opened it, expecting to see Erin since she was invited, but saw Sirius instead.

"Hello, Red," he greeted.

"Are you allowed to be here?" she asked. She figured he probably was because her friend was allowed so it would make sense if James' friend was also but Lily still asked.

"Of course I am," Sirius responded. "Where's James? You two weren't making out on the couch, were you?"

Usually, this type of comment would earn someone a kick in the shins. But, for some reason, Lily felt her ears go hot. "Shut up," she said, hoping that she sounded annoyed but wasn't sure she pulled it off. She turned to the kitchen and yelled, "Potter, you're friend is here!"

A laugh sounded from the second floor and Jackie and Connor came running down the stairs. Jackie was wearing pink footy pajamas and Connor was wearing blue footy pajamas. It was really cute.

Jackie ran straight for Lily. She braced herself to be knocked to the ground but it didn't come. She turned to see that she was running at Sirius. Sirius scooped her up. Jackie smiled, showing all her teeth. Lily's mouth hung open.

"Hey, Padfoot," James said as he walked in.

"Since when have you two been so good with kids?" Lily demanded, thinking about the first time she was there and James had acted like such a great older brother until Jackie started misbehaving.

"We've always been good with kids," Sirius said, "Hey Connor." Connor smiled and waved shyly.

"No you haven't," Lily argued, "At school you always call the first year's midgets. You called other first year's midgets when you _were_ a first year."

"They were all shorter than us," Sirius explained with a shrug.

"In fact, Lily," James said, "You still are shorter than us." Lily knew he was just teasing her by the way he smiled. It wasn't a jerkish smile. She would never say it out loud, but it was a nice smile.

"Sirius, are you gonna get us dessert?" Jackie asked.

"I brought some candy actually," he replied, holding up a plastic bag that Lily hadn't seen before. He put Jackie down and pulled out two chocolate cauldron cakes and handed them to Connor and Jackie.

"I don't think so," Lily said. She started towards the two toddlers, intending to take the sweets away from them. They were on a sugar high when they didn't even have sugar.

James grabbed her hand. She turned look at him. "I already promised them dessert, remember?"

"Fine," Lily sighed. "Eat it in the kitchen." Jackie and Connor ran to kitchen to eat their sweets. Lily looked at Sirius. "I hate you."

"No you don't," Sirius joked, "You hate James. You love me."

"Hey," James protested. Sirius laughed.

Lily rolled her eyes. "You two go do whatever it is you do. I'm gonna go do my job," she instructed.

In the kitchen, Lily sat on a stool. She looked over at the two kids. They were whispering to each other. That alone was suspicious. Then, Connor glanced over at Lily and laughed.

"Hey," she said, "you two better not be planning a prank against me."

Connor looked up at her wide eyed. He shook his head valiantly. He was a terrible liar.

Lily tried to think of something that would make them not do it. She highly doubted that just telling them not to would do anything. No, she would have to threaten to tell her parents or distract her so she would forget about it. Lily didn't know Connor very well but she figured if Jackie didn't do anything, then he wouldn't either. Then, she remembered what Lindsey had said.

Lily got off her stool and sat down next to the little kids table that Jackie and Connor were sitting at. "I don't really like you pulling pranks on me," she said, "They aren't very nice. What are you planning?" They looked at each other. "Connor?" Lily asked.

"We were gonna steel James' cloak again and put it over a chair so you tripped on it," he said quickly.

"Well," Lily told them patiently, "That would hurt. How about I teach you a new trick that doesn't involve magic and won't hurt anyone?"

Jackie beamed. "Alright," she said. Connor nodded.

"Good, now I need you two to go find a bucket." Before they left the room, Lily added, "You have to promise not to tell where you learned this and not to use it on me." After they agreed, they ran off to get a bucket.

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Jackie and Connor loved the trick. Lily had to admit, it was a good one. She had only seen people do things like that on TV. She never thought she would actually do it herself. They had decided to do it in the library. She checked the bucket to make sure that it would fall in the right direction when the door was open and then told Jackie to call Sirius and James.

"JAMIE!" Jackie yelled. "SIRIUS! I NEED YOU!" Instantly, they heard thudding upstairs and then one this floor. They waited. Finally, James pushed open Jackie's door and the bucked spilled oatmeal all over him. Everyone laughed, except James of course. He didn't find it very funny.

James wiped the oatmeal away from his eyes and looked at Lily. Then he looked at Sirius. "It's really not that funny," he insisted.

"It is, mate," Sirius told him, "It really, really is."

"Sirius," James said and Lily thought James was gonna punch him, "Will you put Jackie and Connor to bed while I talk to their babysitter?"

"You're in trouble, Red," Sirius warned before taking Connor and Jackie to bed. They were still laughing.

James turned to Lily. "I can't believe you taught them something like this after you yell at me all the time for pulling pranks." Lily nodded, then laughed some more. "I'm serious, Evans."

"I know you are," Lily said, gasping for breath, "It's just really hard to take you seriously when you're dripping with oatmeal." James took a few steps closer to her and then did something she was not expecting. He scooped up some oatmeal from his hair and then flung it at her. It got on her face and her clothes. She stopped laughing immediately.

"I can't believe you did that," she said, wiping some out of her eye.

"You did it to me first," he argued, smiling.

"If it makes you feel any better," Lily said, "I was trying to get Sirius, not you."

"Yeah right," he replied. She had to admit, she would have been disappointed if he had actually believed that. He wasn't that gullible.

Lily looked around. Some of the oatmeal had splattered on the bookshelves and some books had little oatmeal spots on them. "I better clean this up," she said. She pulled out her wand, and with a little flick and thinking, _Scourgafy_, all the oatmeal disappeared. She turned back to James who was spotless. "Happy?"

"Yes, thank you," he said. Lily looked around at all the books. She could feel his gaze on her as she walked by all the shelves, reading book spines. She stopped at one about Fairies and pulled it off the shelf. It was leather bound with a picture of a fairy on the cover. The fairy was like a miniature human with pointy ears and long brown hair. She was wearing a dark green dress that went down to her ankles. It was beautiful.

"You can borrow that if you want," James said. She turned to see that he was standing right behind her so she had to look up to look at him.

"Thanks," Lily replied, looking back down at the book and then up at him again. Her breath caught in her throat as he started leaning toward her.

Then, Sirius walked in, announcing, "The kids are in bed." Lily jumped and turned back to the bookshelves, pretending to be looking at the books.

"Thanks, Padfoot," James mumbled. Lily wanted to hit Sirius. He had really bad timing.

"We should go downstairs," Lily said. She walked past James and Sirius and walked downstairs just in time to be scared to death by Mr. and Mrs. Potter as they apperated into the kitchen.

"Lily," Mrs. Potter said, "How were things?"

"They were great," Lily said. She heard James and Sirius walking down the stairs behind her.

"Well," Mr. Potter said, "Let me pay you."

Lily was paid, she said thank you, got her things, and left, before James had a chance to say anything.

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**A/n **I think there are one or two more chapters. Sorry about the crappy ending. REVIEW!


	7. Quick Trip

Quick Trip

Lily counted her money in her room. She didn't have enough to get all her school things, but by the time her list came in and she had enough money for everything, there wouldn't be time to finish her homework. So she had planned a quick trip to Diagon Ally to buy ink.

She walked downstairs into her dad's study. "I'm leaving now," she said."

Her dad looked up the papers he was looking at. "Alright," he said, "have fun."

"I'm going to buy ink," Lily said, "How will I have fun?"

"Uh-huh," he answered. He was reading his papers again so he probably didn't even hear her. Lily rolled her eyes and left the room.

Deciding that she didn't want to disturb him when she apperated, she went upstairs to her room. She heard Petunia talking down the hall and went a little further to eaves drop. She usually didn't talk about anything interesting but every once and a while she would tell a friend a secret and Lily would hear it. It was always fun to hear things about Pat.

"No," she said, "I haven't told anyone yet." Silence. So she was talking on the phone. But to whom?

"I don't know when I will," Pat told the person on the other end, "Probably when my sister leaves." Silence. "Because I don't want her to know." Silence. "She'll probably ask to be my maid of honor just so my parents will make me let her be in the wedding and I don't want that to happen."

Lily had heard enough. She went back to her room. She couldn't believe her sister was getting married and hadn't told anyone yet. Lily couldn't help it, she was happy for her sister. No matter how poorly Pat treated Lily, she still deserved to be happy. Lily would finally have a brother.

Wait.

Vernon Dursley would be her brother.

She shuddered as she closed her bedroom door. Then, she grabbed her money off her desk and apperated to Diagon Ally.

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There weren't very many people there. It didn't surprise her though. It wasn't anywhere near time to shop for school supplies. Lily was able to quickly make her way to the store she needed. Walking inside, she was met with a surprise.

Remus Lupin was sitting behind the counter, reading a book. He looked up when the bell over the door rang.

"Hello Lily," he said, smiling at her. "What brings you here?"

"I'm here to buy some ink," Lily told him, "What are you doing here?" She knew right after she said it that it was a stupid question. Why else would he be sitting behind the counter?

"I work here," he replied. Lily nodded and started looking at all the ink on the shelves.

She had forty galleons from babysitting. She could buy the Bag of Ink, which was a large bag that held about fifty ink bottles inside, for fifteen galleons. That was a reasonable price. Then she would have enough left to stop by the bookstore and get Standard Book of Spells Grade 7, since she already knew that would be on her list. She grabbed the Bag of Ink and took it up to the counter.

"Ten galleons," Remus told her.

"But the price tag says fifteen," Lily pointed out.

"Friends and family get discounts."

Lily smiled and handed him the money. "Thanks," she said.

On her way out, she bumped into someone. "Sorry," she said automatically.

"Hey Red." Lily hated that nickname. And only one person used it.

Lily turned to see James and Sirius standing there. She had bumped into James.

"Hi," she said, avoiding James' eyes. She had some so close to kissing him the last time they were together. She wasn't sure how to feel about that. Her stomach leapt at the idea of kissing him, but he was _James Potter_. She was supposed to hate him. Now he was being all nice and not jerkish. But that didn't matter. Once they went back to school, he would stop being the nice and not jerkish James and go back to being the arrogant egotistical ask-Lily-out-every-five-minutes Potter.

"What are you doing here?" James asked politely.

"I'm just buying some stuff," she said, holding up her bag.

"Ah," Sirius said, "Buying stuff. You know I heard people do that at stores."

Sirius apparently hadn't changed that much.

"What are you two doing here?" Lily asked.

"We're just here to see Moony," James explained.

"Peter didn't want to come too?" Peter was usually following them around.

"No," James said, "He had to visit his cousin."

"I thought it was his grandfather?" Sirius said.

"Or was it his brother?"

"Does Wormtail _have_ a brother?"

Lily watched the two of them think about it for a couple seconds. "You don't even know if he has a brother? He's one of your best friends."

"Red," Sirius said, using Lily's nickname again, "Guys don't talk about things like that. They talk about quidditch and… other things that you don't need to know about."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I have to go. I'll see you around."

As she was walking to the bookstore, she heard someone running behind her. She didn't think much of it until she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see that James had followed her.

"Hey," he said, "Are you in a hurry?"

Lily hesitated. If she said yes, he would leave her alone and not do anything, like ask her out or kiss her or something. But if she said yes, she might miss out on something important. What if he just wanted to talk to her and he knew something she needed to know? Well, she had to know what he wanted to tell her. So she should just say, "No, I'm not in any hurry." But what if he really was going to kiss her? Or ask her out on a date?

She almost kicked herself right there. Why did she care if he asked her out? She said no to him a million times in the past. Why would it make a difference if he asked her in Diagon Ally? It shouldn't since he had already asked her in Diagon Ally before.

"No," she answered. He smiled.

Crap.

"Good," he said, "Do you want to go get some ice cream? My treat."

"I don't think so," Lily replied hesitantly, looking in the direction of the ice cream parlor. It was a hot day and ice cream did sound really good. And better yet, it was free ice cream. At least for her. But she didn't want to seem too eager. He would have to talk her into it. And knowing James, he would.

"Well alright," he shrugged. "I just thought I'd offer." He started walking off. Lily couldn't believe he was giving up that easy.

"Alright," she said, taking a few hurried steps to catch up to him, "You talked me into it."

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They sat outside the eating their ice cream. Lily had tried the new Double Peanut Butter Sundae. It was really good.

"So what else have you been doing this summer, other than babysitting?" James asked.

"Not much really," Lily replied, "Just fighting with my sister and all that good stuff. What about you?"

"Not much with me either. Sirius moved in the other day. That's about it."

"Why'd he move in?"

"He got in a fight with his parents or something like that," James explained. "It's about time he got out of there. You know he's the only decent one in his family."

"Sirius is the decent one?" Lily asked. James laughed. Lily liked his laugh, when he was laughing at a joke and not laughing at someone else that is.

"There you are," Sirius said, coming up behind them. "I've been looking for you."

"I told you where I was gonna be," James said.

"I don't pay attention," then he turned to Lily, "You know he snuck a love potion in your ice cream, right?" Lily wasn't sure if he was joking or not.

"Don't listen to him Lily," James said quickly. Then to Sirius, "I'm gonna hurt you Black."

"No you won't," Sirius replied. He took James' ice cream and took a big bit out of it. Lily stared at him, waiting. Then, "Oh, owe, brain freeze!"

"Nitwit," Lily said, laughing.

"I was still eating that," James tried to sound angry but he was laughing too.

"It's not funny," Sirius insisted, rubbing his head.

Lily stayed for a little while longer before she looked at her watch and saw it was getting pretty late.

"I have to go," she said, getting up from the table.

"Oh," James replied. He sounded disappointed. "Alright. So, I'll see you around?"

"Yeah, probably at your house, chasing your sister around or something."

"Yeah, probably," James agreed.

"Bye," Lily smiled at them and then walked away towards the bookstore.

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(James POV)

"That was impressive," Sirius commented.

"What was?" James asked. He was still looking in the direction Lily had gone.

"Red actually enjoyed our company. At least it seemed like she did. I can never really understand girls."

"She's enjoyed our company before," James said, turning to look at Sirius.

"When?"

"That time."

"What time?"

"You know," James said. "That time at the place. With the thing." James really didn't even know what he himself was talking about, but maybe Sirius would pretend to know so it didn't seem like he was crazy… er.

"You're making this up."

Stupid Sirius with his stupid perfect memory.

"Another thing that surprises me," Sirius said as if they hadn't been talking about anything else, "Is that you were able to carry on a conversation without asking her out."

"Hey, I haven't asked her out at all this summer," James protested, proud of himself for being able to actually come up with an argument this time.

"And that surprises me," Sirius said.

"Maybe I'm over her," James told him. Sirius let out a bark like laugh.

"That will never, never, never, never, never happen."

"I think one 'never' would have been enough."

"No," Sirius insisted, "It wouldn't. That just doesn't cover enough time. I'll believe that you're over Lily when Moony stops having his time of the month."

"I thought you weren't gonna make anymore jokes about that?" James asked.

"I changed my mind," Sirius said simply, "Don't change the subject."

"I'm not changing the subject. I'm just asking you a question."

"You're doing it again."

"What?" James was gonna hit Sirius pretty soon.

"You're changing the subject."

"The subject never changed back to the first subject so I couldn't have changed the subject because the subject never changed!"

"Stop changing the subject!" Sirius yelled. He paused. Then asked, "What was the subject?"

"I don't know," James said who had forgotten what they were talking about. "Do you wanna help me baby-sit Jackie next weekend?"

"I thought Lily was her babysitter?"

"My parents don't want to 'overwork' Lily or something like that. Honestly, you'd think if they were worried about people being overworked they wouldn't send their children to Hogwarts. Not that I'm complaining," James added quickly.

"Do I have a choice or are you just being polite by asking me?"

"My mum said I needed to ask you but you don't really have a choice."

"Helping you baby-sit sounds fan-bloody-tastic."

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**A/n** Lily will be in the next one. Sorry this one took so long. I had a major writers block because I was gonna do something completely different than what I finally decided on doing. The idea I had at first was hard to write without making it sound stupid so I changed it. REVIEW!


	8. The End

Chapter 8: The End

(James POV)

James said good bye to his parents and then went to the kitchen where Sirius and Jackie were. He opened the door and immediately started dancing, not on his own accord mind you. He looked over to Sirius to tell him off but he wasn't the one holding the wand. Jackie was.

"Whose wand is that?" James asked.

"It's mine Prongs," Sirius answered. James was surprised he could talk at all, he was laughing too hard.

"Why did you give her a wand?"

Sirius took a while to control himself before he could answer the question. "She asked for it."

"If she asked to put slugs down your pants would you let her?"

"No," Sirius said, disgusted, "That's gross."

"Make me stop dancing," James demanded.

"You forgot the magic word," Sirius said in a sing song voice.

"Now."

"Hmm, I don't think that's the magic word. Is it Jackie?"

"Nope," Jackie said and laughed.

"I'll give you a hint," Sirius said, "It starts with a P."

"Padfoot," James said warningly.

"Nope, that's not it either."

Apparently Sirius wasn't going to help unless James said 'the magic word'.

"Please," James said finally.

"Was that so hard?" Sirius asked. He took his wand back from Jackie and waved it at James who immediately stopped dancing.

James glared at Sirius. He opened and closed his mouth a few times before walking over to Jackie. "Come on," he said, "It's time for your bath."

"That's it?" Sirius asked disbelievingly. "You're not going to yell at me or curse me or anything?"

"Not while little ears are around," James said simply. He took Jackie's hand and led her upstairs.

His parents had always given Jackie a bath. James had never before done it. In fact, he had never given any toddler a bath before. So you can imagine he didn't really know what to do. When he asked Sirius about it, he didn't know either.

Their bathtub was quit large. It was as deep as a normal bathtub but it was as big as a full size bed. When Jackie had said excitedly, "I want bubbles, BUBBLES!" James of course, being the great big brother that he is, dumped half of the bottle of bubbles into the bathtub. Sirius said it was a good idea.

"What does she wear in the bathtub?" Sirius asked, "Do we just strip her and throw her in or have her wear shorts and a tank top or what?"

James hadn't thought of that. "Go put on your bathing suit," he told Jackie. She ran off quickly and excitedly.

"You have no idea what you're doing, do you?" Sirius asked.

James looked at him with a hurt expression on his face. He was about to say he knew exactly what he was doing and how _dare_ Sirius think otherwise. But then decided to just tell him the truth. "No I really don't."

Sirius nodded understandingly. Then he looked behind James at the tub and yelled, "Prongs, the water!"

James turned around to see the bathtub overflowing with water and bubbles. He ran over to it to turn it off. There was a minor step-back though. He couldn't see where the knob was.

He stood there for a few seconds, feeling the water overflow onto his shoes and soak into his socks. Then he plunged his hand into all the bubbles. He thought that the knob was around that area. He felt around for it, hating that his shirt was getting soaked. Finally he touched something metal. Eureka! He found it and turned off the water.

He pulled his hand back and turned around. Jackie was standing next to Sirius wearing a pink bathing suit with silver lines all over it. She was smiling larger than James had ever seen her smile before.

She ran up to the tub and jumped into all the bubbles. More water overflowed and splashed James.

"What happened?" Someone asked. It most definitely wasn't Sirius. James turned around and saw Lily standing in the doorway to the bathroom. Her mouth was half open and she was looking all over the bathroom. James looked too. You could barely see anything in the tub but the bubbles. James was surprised Jackie didn't completely disappear. You could just see her head. It looked like it was floating. The floor was covered with bubbles and water. The small rug that they had next to the bathtub was half covered in bubbles and what you could see of it was soaked. James himself was wet and sudsy.

"We're giving Jackie a bath," James said.

"You have to have water to give a girl a bath," Lily told them, "Not just bubbles."

"There's water in there," Sirius defended, "You just can't see it because James added so much bubble bath to it."

"Don't blame this on me," James said, "It's your fault too."

"He's the one who was willing to write and say you two needed help this weekend," Lily told James.

"My parents wanted to give you a brake." Then James rounded on Sirius, "I can't believe you didn't think I could handle this."

"Not just you mate," Sirius said, "I didn't think I could handle it either."

James sighed and then looked at Lily. He calmed down a bit so he didn't sound angry or frustrated when he talked to her. "I have everything under control," he said, "So you can go home." He silently prayed that she decided to stay because he honestly didn't have anything under control.

"I don't think so," she said, "I'm staying here. You might drown your sister or suffocate her with bubbles."

"I won't kill her," he argued.

"Uh-huh," Lily mumbled disbelievingly. She pulled out her wand and waved it. The water and bubbles disappeared. James noticed that there was a reasonable amount of bubbles left in the bathtub. "You put her in a bathing suit?"

"No," James said, "She put herself in a bathing suit. I just told her to do it."

Lily rolled her eyes and knelt down next to the tub to finished giving Jackie a bath.

"What shampoo does she use?"

"Uh," James looked at Sirius for help. He shrugged. "You know," he continued, pretending to know, "The kid's shampoo."

Lily looked around the bathroom. "Where is the kid's shampoo?"

"Right here," he grabbed the closest bottle and held it up. "Wonderful for little kids, tear free, and has a wonderful strawberry scent to it."

Lily glanced at the bottle and then back at James. "James," she said, "Two things. One: you're not trying to sell it to me. Two: this is shaving cream, not shampoo." She took the bottle away from James and showed him the label.

"I knew that," James said.

"Sirius," Lily asked, "Will you help me look for her shampoo?"

"I know where it is," Jackie said, "It's in another bathroom."

"Which one?" Sirius asked.

"Um…" Jackie thought. She put a hand to her chin as if stroking an imaginary beard. "The bathroom that Mommy and Daddy gave me a bath in last."

"Which one was that?" Lily asked. James looked at Jackie who was looking at him. "James," Lily said.

He looked at her. "Oh," he said, "You're asking me?" Lily nodded. "Why would I know?"

"Why wouldn't you know?"

"I don't keep track of where my parents give my sister a bath."

"Alright," Lily said. James could tell she was getting frustrated. "Sirius and I will go look. You make sure Jackie doesn't get into trouble."

She got up and when her back was turned James gave Sirius a look, trying to tell him to insist that he can look for himself. Sirius didn't get it. He made a questioning face.

James pointed at Lily and then pointed at the spot where Lily was just sitting. Then, he pointed at Sirius and made a shooing motion.

Sirius finally got it. He nodded to show he understood. "You know Lily," he said, "I can find it by myself. And James can't handle Jackie alone. He had to beg me to help him baby-sit. ME! Like I would know."

Lily looked hesitant, but said, "Alright, but hurry. It's almost time for her to go to bed."

"I'm running like the wind," Sirius said before leaving. Lily looked back at Jackie and sat next to James beside the tub.

Without warning, Lily started laughing.

"What's so funny?" James asked.

"You," Lily told him between giggles. "I can't believe you tried to baby-sit your sister."

James stared at her for a few seconds as she laughed. He didn't find it as funny. Dipping his hand into the water, he scooped up some bubbles and put them in her hair.

"Hey," she said, still smiling. She retaliated by grabbing the cup that was used for wetting Jackie's hair, filling it with water and dumping it on James. Jackie laughed.

"I didn't get you that badly," James said as he wiped water off his glasses. Lily didn't answer.

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(Lily's POV)

An hour later, Jackie was in bed and Sirius, Lily and James were sitting in the Gryffindor-Common-Room room.

"Did you clean up the water all over the bathroom floor?" Lily asked James

"Me?" James said, "Why would I clean it up? You were the one who spilled it."

"What happened?" Sirius asked, interested. Lily explained and Sirius took Lily's side. "Sounds like you started it Prongs," he said, "You should be the one to clean it up."

"Whose friend are you?" James asked, though Lily could see he wasn't really mad. No one said anything for a second. James grumbled something and went upstairs.

A few minutes later, James called down the stairs, saying that he had no idea how to clean it up the muggle way.

"I'll go help him," Lily said, rolling her eyes.

She stepped up on the second floor landing and started walking towards the bathroom. She had only taken a few steps when she felt a lot of cold water splash on her back. Lily turned around to see James standing behind her holding a now empty bucket.

As she opened her mouth to scream because it was so cold, James grabbed her hand, pulled her into the closest room—which was a broom closet--and covered her mouth with his hand. Lily was very aware that they were only a few inches apart.

"Don't scream," he told her, "Jackie is just down the hall and she's actually asleep."

She nodded to show James she understood. He dropped his hand but didn't move away. Lily could feel his eyes on her as she looked around the little room they were in, avoiding his eyes. There were boxes that said PICTURES on the side and baby boxes. The one that caught her eye was the one that said BABY JAMES.

Lily smiled and took a step over towards the box. "Look at this," she said. She started to open it but James put a hand on the top.

"You don't want to look at that," he said.

"You know," Lily said, "I really, really do."

Before Lily knew what happened, James kissed her. Her eyes widened and before she closed them, James had pulled back. She stared at him for a few seconds before saying, "What was that."

James cleared his throat, not looking at her, "People usually call it a kiss."

"Oh."

Lily wasn't sure how to react. She had never been surprised by a kiss before. She would admit that she had always wished that she would be surprised by a kiss, but she never imagined that kiss to be from James Potter.

"James? Red?" Sirius' voice came from somewhere on the other side of the door. Lily, desperate for something to do, opened the door and walked out with James right behind her. Sirius smiled and she realized what that must have looked like.

"What were you two doing?" Sirius asked, eyeing them suspiciously.

"Nothing," Lily said a little too quickly. Sirius' smile grew. Then Lily remembered the box. "We were just looking for James' baby box."

"No we weren't," James said.

"You have a baby box?" Sirius asked. He was obviously enjoying this.

Lily got the baby box out of the closet and brought it out to show Sirius.

"Let's look at it," Sirius said. He started to take it from Lily.

"I have to clean up this water," James said. Lily looked around to see what he was talking about. It was the water he had splashed on her that was all over the floor now.

"I can get this," Lily said. She waved her wand and the water disappeared. "Now, let's go downstairs and look through your box."

"But," James started, but Lily and Sirius were already walking past him.

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(James' POV)

Fifteen minutes later, James sat in an armchair and Lily and Sirius sorted through the baby box. James didn't look too happy.

"Oh," Lily said, "This is so cute." She held up miniature Hogwarts robes. "I can't believe you were this small."

"Look what I found," Sirius said in a sing song voice. James looked over quickly. He was holding a baby book.

"Alright," James said, standing up quickly. He reached over and took the picture book from Sirius before he could be stopped. "No pictures."

"Why?" Lily asked, "Are there embarrassing baby pictures of you in there?"

Was there a right answer to this question? If James said yes, then they would find a way to get it from him and torture him with the stupid pictures. If he said no, they would insist on looking at it because there was no reason for them not to look at it. He decided to not answer the question. At least not directly. "Maybe," he said.

"Hand over the picture book, Prongs," Sirius said, standing up.

"No," James shook his head, holding the book tightly. Sirius pulled out his wand. "Oh come on," James said, "That's just not fair."

Sirius shrugged. "Not my problem." He started to raise his wand.

"He does have a point," Lily said, "We shouldn't use magic to get it from him."

James wasn't sure whether to say thanks or not. He didn't want Sirius to take it from him by magic but he also didn't want him to take it from him at all.

"Fine," Sirius said disappointed, "We won't take it from you with magic. I'll give you a ten second head start."

Sirius started counting and James ran upstairs, still clutching the photo book.

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(Lily's POV)

Lily searched for James on the third floor of the house. She felt a little bad about being mean to him like this, but she told herself it was just payback for that kiss.

She pondered the kiss as she looked for him. Did it actually mean anything or was it just something to stop her from opening his baby box? It was probably nothing. Although, she did feel something when he kissed her. At least she thought she did. Could she be sure? It might have been in her head. Yup, that was it. Just in her head. She had felt nothing when she kissed Potter. Or when he had kissed her. Did she kiss him back. She couldn't remember. She didn't think she did. But what if she did and he didn't mean anything by it other than to get her mind off the box and now he knows she likes him? _No, _she told herself, _not _knows_ I like him. _Thinks_ I like him. _She most definitely wasn't falling for James Potter. There was no way. But what if the kiss _did_ mean something?

"The kiss was nothing," she said out loud.

Then, someone grabbed her from behind. He covered her mouth with one hand and wrapped his other arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him and pinning her arms down. She tried to get away but he was too strong. She lifted her foot and slammed the heel of her foot as hard as she could onto the person's toes. He instantly let go. She turned around, whipping out her wand as she did so.

James stood there, with a pained expression on his face. "Bloody hell Lily," he said, "That hurt."

"Why did you do that?" Lily asked, "You scared me half to death."

"I was just trying to sneak up on you," he said, "I didn't think you would attack me."

Lily stood there as her heart rate slowed. He must have been watching her for a few minutes. That meant he heard what she said. She didn't say it that loud though. Maybe he didn't hear.

"What kiss were you talking about?" He asked, with a small smile on his face.

Damn.

"What are you talking about?" Lily asked, deciding to play it cool.

"You know what I'm talking about."

"No," Lily said, "I don't." She started to walk past him, heading for the stairs but he blocked her path.

"When I kissed you, that didn't mean nothing."

Lily didn't answer. She just looked at the hardwood floor.

"Lily?"

She looked up at him. He was a lot closer than she thought he was. Was he getting closer or was that just her imagination? Nope. He was definitely getting closer. He would be kissing her soon. She kept her eyes open until he closed his. Finally he kissed her.

Lily was not wrong. She had felt something in his kiss. She couldn't explain it, but it was something that wasn't there with any of the other boys she had kissed before. And it was over way too soon.

"This is just too cute," Sirius said. Lily looked over at him. He was beaming at them.

"Where did you come from?" Lily asked.

"Nowhere land," Sirius answered, still smiling. "Prongs, your parents are back. They want to talk to you."

"Alright," James said, "Could you tell them I'll be there in a second?"

"Sure," he said and he left. Then James turned back to Lily.

"So," he said, "I'm gonna ask you again. Will you go out with me?"

Lily smiled. "Yes, I'll go out with you."

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(1980)

"Good times," Sirius said. He was sitting on the couch at the Potter's house.

"Yeah," James agreed.

Lily was holding a baby Harry in a rocking chair. "But we never found James' photo book," she said.

"Actually," Sirius said, "I found it the other day. That's why I brought up the subject."

"Why did we end up telling Harry the whole story if you just wanted to show us a picture book?" James asked, reaching for the photo album. Sirius held it out of reach.

"I didn't want to tell the whole story," Sirius pointed out, "I just said, 'Remember your picture book that we could never find when Lily was babysitting?' and then you two went off and told a three month old baby a story that he won't even remember. One reason, because he's three months old and won't even remember this conversation when he wakes up screaming in a few hours, and another reason is because he fell asleep halfway through."

James and Lily looked at each other.

"Anyway," Lily said, "You mentioned James' old picture book?"

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**A/n **That's it. I'm kind of sad that this story is finished. I'm gonna miss writing it. Thank you to all who reviewed and stuck with me through the story and the summer when I wasn't able to post for about a month. I hope you enjoyed it. I wanted to make the last chapter longer than the rest, that's why it took longer.

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